Zombie
by TurnTheRadioOff
Summary: The mayor had two zombies living in his house. How Katniss Everdeen systematically rebuilt and destroyed the Undersee family.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I've finally given into the Hunger Games hype, and when I read the first book ages ago the relationship between Madge and Katniss seemed as if it could use a bit of development. So, I've decided to take it under my wing. This story is going to be a little slow-going, but I think in the end it will be worth it.

The mayor had two zombies living in his house. The first, his wife, broken beyond repair after the death of her twin sister in the 2nd Quarter Quell. For years he followed her around, trying to pick up the pieces of the woman he loved, hoping to find somewhere the light in her eyes the Capitol stole from her.

He almost found it when Madge was born. For a few months, there was hope. But the eerie silence resumed itself, permeating through the gurgling and giggling of his beautiful baby girl, learning to walk and talk while her mother locked herself in a darkened room. Madge grew used to her mother's "sensitive condition," speaking in hushed tones around the house, the somber mood like a rolling, black cloud over their head threatening to burst over their heads into a torrential fit of rain and thunder at any moment.

It never did.

Madge never had many friends growing up. She was a perfectly normal child. But the mayor knew her silence was unsettling to the other children, constantly humming with energy and flitting about. What upset him the most was that she seemed entirely unbothered by it. As if she didn't know anything else.

That all she knew was loneliness.

When he came to the realization, he too was locked in a dark room. But not in silence. He screamed and threw things, including a glass paperweight from the Capitol. That his child was given this fate was unfair- what had his Madge done to deserve this? He needed to right this wrong. So, as he picked up the pieces of the paperweight and sat at his desk to glue it back together, he formulated a plan.

Whenever his daughter spoke, it was about Katniss Everdeen. Katniss Everdeen, who sang proudly in assembly. Katniss Everdeen, who had all of the passion Madge lacked.

His daughter admired the other girl. It was plain as day. He would never forget the day she came back from school, quietly asking if he knew how to plait hair. Katniss always has her hair in plaits, she said. It always looks so lovely. And so he cancelled his last meeting and sat, fumbling with his thick fingers to braid his daughter's hair. It looked a mess, and when she saw herself in the mirror she could not help herself from laughing.

A door down the hallway creaked open. A pair of tired eyes, with dark circles so deep they seemed permanent, paused at the entrance to his office, squinting to adjust to the light. His wife shuffled toward their daughter, softly combing her fingers through her hair to undo the mess he made. Patiently, with great care, she threaded her daughter's hair together, and for a moment, that stolen light was back in her eyes.

Two days later, Peacekeepers showed up unannounced during dinner. The mayor's heart skipped a beat, fearing the worst. He glanced quickly at his daughter, rolling her peas around her plate, and sighed, relieved. She was safe. He hurried the three men up to his office, bolting the door tightly behind them.

Poachers, they informed him gravely. Poachers were wandering through the woods outside the fence of the District. Should they turn the electric fence back on?

He could not stop himself from laughing. As if they could afford to turn on the electricity! he told them. Aside from that, could they not see how his district was suffering? If anything, more should be allowed to poached from those wild lands in order to keep his sickly people from the brink of starvation! He requested the names of the poachers, for nothing more than allowing the Peacekeepers to still think themselves useful, faithful to the Capitol. The last thing he needed them was sending whispered words of insurrection to President Snow. They struggled enough.

Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne.

Katniss.

He knew what he was going to do. The Peacekeepers were dismissed, and the mayor went back to the dining room, smile on his face. Eat your vegetables, he instructed his daughter. We're lucky enough that we get to eat them every day. She pulled a face and went back to rolling them around her plate, her dour expression quickly resuming its place on her face.

The next day, the mayor watched Katniss Everdeen shuffle around his front step, too anxious to ring the doorbell, for a full five minutes. He finally opened the door to the girl, inviting her in. He made it a point to stop in front of his daughter's room.

"Now, Katniss, I hear you're up to a little trouble outside of the District lines," he remarked casually. He was trying his very hardest to sound stern. The young girl eyed him coldly. "I'm sure you know how the Capitol feels about poaching. I'm afraid I have no choice but to-"

His daughter's door flew open. "No!" she shouted, eyes wild. Her hand flew up to her mouth. She scarcely shouted, and never at her father. He could tell she had been listening to every word, just like he hoped.

"Do you know this young woman, Madge?" he leaned against the wall curious.

"Your daughter and I go to school together, sir," Katniss interjected, all too eagerly. "We-we sit next to each other in music class. I sing loud so she doesn't get in trouble. She-she's my friend!" He looked to his daughter, her expression confused, but there was something else there.

Hope.

"Please, daddy, don't hurt Katniss," she looked at her father, pleading.

He couldn't contain himself any longer. He laughed. "Oh, you two girls do come to conclusions quickly! Katniss, did you bring what I asked?" She fumbled through her knapsack, pulling out a brown box tied shut with twine. He opened it, shutting an eye to peer inside. "Ah, yes, strawberries. They're your mother's favorite, you know." He pulled out his wallet and fished out several coins, handing them to the brunette. "For your trouble. I've spoken to the Peacekeepers, and they're to do you no harm. In exchange-" he paused, looking at her pointedly, "I want a box of these every week. You will be compensated."

The mayor was pushed against the wall as Katniss hugged him tightly, a show of affection he was entirely unused to at this point. "Oh thank you, thank you sir!" she looked at the blonde girl standing next to her. "Madge, who knew your father could be such a tease!" she moved closer and whispered something about a bathroom. His daughter nodded, hesitantly taking the other girl's hand and leading her down the hall.

The mayor smiled to himself, satisfied. Katniss would be good for her.

How good remained to be seen.

Katniss' weekly visits became the highlights of everyone's day to day life. Every morning, his daughter would be vibrating with excitement, words spilling out of her mouth telling her father what she and Katniss would be doing that day. The week before, Katniss taught Madge how to tend to the struggling plants in the garden, and this week the plan was to finally teach Madge to plait her own hair.

The young girl no longer felt the need to ring the doorbell, instead she would come charging into the house, always forgetting to take off her muddy boots. It drove the housekeeper crazy, but even she couldn't begrudge Katniss tracking a little mud into the home. She was giving the entire place life as it had never seen it before.

"Maaaaadge!" she sing-songed, traipsing up the stairs. The mayor smiled to himself and addressed the paperwork on his desk once again. He was struggling through the Capitol's latest newsletter on the proper procedures for shipments of natural resources when a sound rocked him to his core.

"Dear, you're doing a wonderful job," he heard his wife say to his daughter in the next room.

It was the first time he'd heard her voice in three years.


	2. Chapter 2

The mayor saw suffering. He saw pain. As leader of District 12, pain and suffering were accepted, natural parts of life.

Never did see suffering like he did after the mine exploded. The whole town shook, physically and emotionally. So many lives were lost, and he almost signed a mandate that would have allowed miners to be as young as twelve in order to make up for those workers- the Capitol saw them as nothing other than labor machines- who were lost in the blast. The mayor thought of Katniss and immediately crumpled the paper into his waste bin. His daughter would certainly be spared, but Katniss, living in the poverty she did, with the drive she had, would undoubtedly dress herself as a boy and slip into the mine to provide for her family. He could not allow it in good conscience.

A month after the blast showed no sign of his daughter's friend. His wife was once again bolted in her room, and as each week passed, the fire lit under Madge was starting to fade. He was losing both of them again. He knew he should not be so selfish, he knew that Katniss was suffering so much and the last thing she needed was to continue to be his family's rock. Not when her own was surely falling to pieces.

Still, he could not help but give in when Madge begged him to take her to Katniss' house. She hugged him, actually hugged him, for the first time in months. _Maybe it will be good for Katniss to see her, _he rationalized with himself. _Maybe Madge can help her. _

The mayor could not remember if he'd ever led his daughter through this part of town. They passed the incredibly obvious black market he allowed to operate. The Peacekeepers grew to pity the inhabitants of the town nearly as much as he did, so it was rare anyone there was given any trouble. He saw his daughter's eyes widen, taking all of it in, but she dare not ask they go in. She knew it was enough to ask of her father to take off the afternoon to go to the very border of the district.

Still, he admired her. Not once did she complain as her shoes got increasingly dirty, the lace on her socks growing darker with the coal dust her feet kicked up. Stopping at a fork in the road, he reached into his pocket for a crumpled piece of paper with directions on it. He'd memorized them the night before, his nerves always getting the better of him, but he checked once more. He'd rather not be lost in this area.

When they finally came across the house, the mayor could scarcely believe it, but Madge's face betrayed no emotion. He imagined Katniss described her home in the past, so the state and size of it was most likely of no surprise to her. Madge took a deep breath and ran to the door before he could so much say a word to her, fists flying against the door.

"KATNIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!" he finally caught up to her, grasping her arms to stop her incessant banging.

"Quiet now, Madge," he shushed. "They may not be home. No need to disturb the entire neighborhood," as he finished his sentence, the door creaked open, a blue eye peering from inside the crack. Madge gasped, excited, but it was short-lived.

"Sorry, we're not taking any visitors right now," Katniss moved to close the door, but the mayor stopped it with his hand.

"Katniss, please. Madge came to offer her condolences," he saw the hesitance in the girl's eyes. She sighed, resigned, and allowed them to step inside.

Inside there were at least six people lying on every surface available with various degrees of injury. the mayor recognized them immediately. They all were in the mine at the time of the explosion. Katniss turned away from the mayor to tend to one of their bandages.

"My mom usually takes care of these people, but she isn't feeling up to it right now," she was still tending to the man, her brow furrowed in concentration. She stopped a moment to dry the sweat off of her forehead with her arm before continuing. "And these guys aren't getting better on their own, you know?"

Before Katniss could say anything else, the mayor's daughter was by her side, preparing the makeshift bandages for the man lying on the kitchen table. Katniss' lips curled upward in a small smile of appreciation, and before he knew it, the mayor was going around from patient to patient, sitting and talking with them to take their minds off of the pain. He was in the middle of his favorite (and only) joke about President Snow in the bathtub when a pair of small feet shuffled into the room. Katniss hurried herself over and steered the girl back into what the mayor could only assume was the family bedroom.

"Prim, I told you that you're not supposed to come in here," she reprimanded softly. "I'll be done soon."

"But I'm hungry and mama won't wake up!" the girl wailed. Katniss shushed the girl, singing her a song he vaguely recognized. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Madge stop her work, as if in a trance. She began to mouth the words as she continued to tend to the next man, mimicking what her friend had done with the other arm injury in the room.

Once it was dark, the mayor decided it was time for he and his daughter to go home. He stepped outside to let the girls say their goodbyes. At one point, he thought he heard someone sniffling, but Madge stepped out of the house a minute later, dry-eyed.

"We have to help her," she said to her father. "We have to help her like she helped me and mom. She can't do everything by herself. At least I have you, but-" her lower lip began to tremble. "Now her dad's gone and her mom's like my mom and she has a baby sister and she needs us to help her!" with that she lost all control and began sobbing into her father's coat.

He needed another plan.

Their housekeeper lived a stone's throw away from the Everdeen's home. He offered to raise her salary- how he would have, he had no idea- but she insisted that she go in and check in on the family without any reward. "Her mama saved my husband's life more times than I like to think," she said. "It's the least I can do."

Two weeks later, Madge convinced Katniss that it would be all right to come over, if only for half an hour. His daughter's feet were swinging as she sat down to breakfast, and she hummed for fifteen minutes straight while eating her cereal. She's not going to be magically okay, he warned her. She might not be as happy as she was before the accident. She may never be that happy again.

Madge cast him a disapproving look and continued shovelling her cereal into her mouth.

"I was grumpy before and Katniss was still my friend," she explained. "So I'm still going to be her friend if she's grumpy. She's still Katniss." And so his daughter left for school with a spring in her step that was missing for some time.

Around lunch, he heard the door next to his office creak open again, the sound of hesitating footsteps approaching his door. His wife's gaunt face appeared in the doorway. "That girl is sad. Fix it," she paused at the door for a moment. The mayor blinked a few times, opening his eyes to his wife's form retreating from the doorway.

The first time his wife talks to him in three years is about Katniss.

He should be angry.

Instead, it gives him more drive to help the girl in whatever way he can. If he can get to her, in time, he could get to his wife, too.

The first thing he does is invite her to join Madge's piano lessons. If the girl liked to sing, she'd probably like the piano, too. After all, it only made sense. Katniss sat on the bench for all of five minutes before she slammed the piano shut, bruising the teacher's fingers in the process. Madge ran after her, and the mayor was left facing a woman whose medical bills he was not able to afford. And one of those fingers looked broken.

He heard footsteps overhead, and he sighed in relief. At least she stayed. He began to apologize to the piano teacher profusely, offering to bandage her hand and make a cup of tea. When in doubt, always offer tea. That was his motto. He was one of the few with free access to sugar in the district, but he never took it for granted. He used it more for appeasement of others than anything else.

She graciously accepted, and they made their way to the kitchen. The teacher sat herself at the table.

"That girl's pretty upset with you, you know," she remarked quietly. The mayor looked at her quizzically. "I mean, it's fairly obvious. Her father dies in that accident, and her family was struggling enough already. And now she has to take care of her family. She probably thought you were waving your affluence in her face."

"You know," he started, taking the whistling kettle off of the stove. "I didn't even think of it that way. That poor child." He pulled two mugs out of the cabinet. "Do you take milk in your tea?"

"Yes, please."

The piano teacher stayed for several hours, taking advantage of the mayor's access to ice in order to reduce the swelling in her fingers. As night fell, she took her leave graciously, and the mayor went upstairs to check on the girls, who fell quiet at least an hour before.

He opened the door to see them both collapsed on the bed, sleeping, Katniss curled under Madge's arm. He closed the door quietly and left them there. Katniss needed her rest, that much was for certain. He would take her home early in the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I'm starting to get a feel for where this story is going, which is nice. We're rapidly approaching the time that the first book takes place in. Please have some patience with the pace of the story. It's never fun to rush things, after all.

Reviews are welcomed and encouraged as they make me feel like my material is worth reading.

The next morning Katniss was gone before the mayor considered getting out of bed. Her visits returned, though they were sparse. He couldn't ask for more than that.

Several months passed, and Madge's fourteenth birthday was approaching. The mayor, ever proud of his schemes, wrote invitations to every child in Madge's class for her surprise party. He contacted the Mellark family and asked them to bake a cake-nothing especially extravagant. He had already learned that lesson. Since Katniss' outburst he had made sure not to flaunt what little extra the Capitol gave him.

He took the stack of pink envelopes in his hand, admiring his craftiness, and set off to deliver each invitation by hand. After all, it wouldn't hurt for him to connect with the people. He could tell he was losing favor lately. It didn't matter, especially, as long as the Capitol approved of the job he was doing, but he didn't feel comfortable governing people who routinely left their dog's droppings in bags on his doorstep.

The mayor knocked on the first door, and a barefoot woman, a small child on her hip, answered the door. She attempted hiding her disgust, but he saw the slight curl in her upper lip. Can I help you with anything, she asked him.

Shaking slightly, he handed her the invitation. "Yes, I have an invitation here for your daughter, I was wondering if she might come to Madge's birthday party. It's a surprise," behind the woman, he saw a girl about his daughter's age, shaking her head and mouthing the word "no." The woman looked at him wearily.

"Sorry, we're busy that day," she handed the envelope back to him and closed the door. He sighed. They didn't even bother to open it.

Seventeen doors and seventeen rejected invitations later, the mayor's last stop was the Underdeen house. Katniss, of course, would come. The invitation was simply a formality. He knuckles had barely rapped against the wood when the door flew open.

"Is Madge hurt?" Katniss' eyes were wild. "Was there an accident?"

The mayor ran his hand through his hair nervously. "No, no, nothing like that, though, now that I think about it, I can understand how you came to that conclusion, me just waltzing up here with no prior warning..." he cleared his throat. "Anyway, Katniss, I would like to present you with a formal invitation to my daughter's surprise birthday party. It will be a week from Saturday," Katniss' eyes were focused on the pile of invitations still in his hand.

"No one else is coming, are they," she said flatly. It wasn't even a question. The mayor could not even formulate a reply, but chose rather to shake his head and step away from the door. Katniss touched his arm, stopping him.

"I'll be there. It will be enough party for both of us, really," she smiled weakly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to finish making dinner for my family. Thank you for stopping by, sir."

The mayor thanked her and left, shuffling rather dejectedly through the streets of the district back to his home. That night, nothing was left on his doorstep. It almost angered him.

The cake arrived while Madge was at her piano lesson- he'd arranged it at her teacher's house to keep the party some semblance of a surprise, as well as to avoid any embarrassment upon being reunited with Katniss. He had finished blowing up the last balloon when the doorbell rang. He quickly fastened the balloon to the chair at the head of the table and headed toward the door. He opened it to a rather uncomfortable looking Katniss, wearing a dress he could only assume was her mother's as it was just too long on her. Her cheeks were ruddy as if she had just scrubbed them, or ran the entire way to his house. Judging from her shortness of breath, he assumed both. A bouquet of flowers was hiding behind her back, which he knew full well she'd picked from behind the fence, which worried him. They'd been testing the electricity through the fence earlier this week.

"You were in quite the hurry, I see," he joked, stepping aside to let her in. She mumbled something nearly incomprehensible about not wanting to be late. He showed her into the dining room, where the party was to be held. And he went off to find the blasted pinata, though he couldn't remember for the life of him where it was. He trudged into his office and began sifting through the closet, going through piles of paperwork on new Capitol policies, handouts to be given to his constituents about their need to increase their servitude to the Capitol- he had neglected to hand those out for a reason- and he came upon a yellowed envelope, unopened, with his wife's name on it. He knew immediately what it was, and who to give it to. The mayor didn't plan on telling his wife. Bringing it up would only bring her more pain. Instead, he slipped it into his pocket, and began to chew his lip.

Where was the pinata?

After another half hour of searching, only to find out that his housekeeper had not only taken the pinata, but also filled it at her own expense as her "small present" to his daughter, the mayor had finally finished preparing the room. Katniss, at the housekeeper's insistence, had placed the flowers in a vase to keep them from drying out. A small stack of wrapped gifts sat at the head of the table, streamers crossing the ceiling, balloons everywhere.

He hoped it wasn't too childish. He wasn't especially good at this sort of thing. He'd ordered kazoos from the Capitol for the occasion, but Katniss threw them one disapproving glance and he'd quickly tossed them into a drawer in the china cabinet. For a different celebration, perhaps.

He continued to glance nervously at his watch. She should have been home ten minutes ago...

And the door slammed shut and Madge could be heard stomping her way up to her bedroom. Katniss bolted from the kitchen table with no hesitation up to his daughter's room, and as always, the mayor was left standing there, attempting to formulate a plan. He couldn't even understand what he had done wrong this time. All he'd wanted to do was have a party for his daughter. At the very least, he should know why she was upset.

That left him standing outside his daughter's bedroom, ear pressed to the door. He made out his daughter's soft sobs, Katniss shushing her, her childhood rocking chair creaking. After a few moments, his daughter spoke up.

"And so I was just walking back from my piano lesson and Billey came out of nowhere, Katniss. And he said-" he heard her take in a shuddering breath- "he asked me why I wasn't at my surprise party? He said," her voice broke and she spoke through her tears. "He said that no one wanted to come because I have no friends and that no one loves me and that I should just volunteer for the Hunger Games next month because no one would miss me if I were gone!" His eyes teared up hearing his daughter like this. But he couldn't go in there. Then she would know he was eavesdropping, and he didn't want to be the creepy parent.

"Look at me," he heard Katniss say softly. "Please, Madge, look at me. That isn't true at all. Billey is an idiot because he's never even spoken to you before and if he had, he would know that you are the best friend that anyone could ever have, that you are the kindest person anyone could meet and that you have the best laugh out of anyone I know. Your dad loves you very much, you know. Your mom does, too. She just can't show it. And don't you DARE volunteer for the Hunger Games, because I don't know what I would do," the mayor wiped a tear back and did his best not to sniffle and give away his position. He used to be a lot stronger than this, he thought to himself. He stepped away from the door and headed downstairs. Katniss would take care of his daughter. He needed to move the pinata outside, so he, and, presumably, the two girls, could take out some aggression without breaking a lamp.

Twenty minutes later two girls came laughing into the dining room and the mayor had to wonder if they'd hit their heads. Rather, he chose not to question a good thing and asked them if they would like some cake. The mayor lit the cake and dimmed the lights, and he and Katniss began to sing happy birthday.

He stopped three words in. The girl had a remarkable voice and he wasn't going to ruin her song with his less than helpful contribution. Beaming, Madge blew out the candles and then looked up to Katniss, who squeezed her hand. Madge's hand, which she had been holding the entire time. The mayor blinked rapidly and asked who wanted the first slice.

He should have known that Katniss would instinctually tear the head off the pinata with her first go. Why Madge insisted she go first, he wasn't sure. But, she wasn't crying, and she wasn't upset about her party being too childish, so he left the two girls in the backyard and went to wash up some of the dishes. He'd given the maid the rest of the day off.

For the next ten minutes he was up to his elbows and suds, taking his time to make sure each dish was spotless. Even those dishes that had gone un-used were subject to his scrupulous cleaning. Every so often he would look up to see the girls pelting each other with candy. Cleaning the last glass, he looked up again. Madge was wearing the head of the pinata on top of her own and was chasing a howling Katniss across the yard. Suddenly, she stopped, Madge crashing into her, the pinata's head falling over her face as she crumpled on top of Katniss. The laid there, giggling, and then Katniss pulled the pinata off of Madge's head, studying her face for a moment.

And then Katniss kissed his daughter.

And he dropped the glass on the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm trying something a little different for this chapter. I'm not sure I still have Katniss pinned down, characterization-wise, so any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thank you guys so much for all of your feedback. Stay awesome.

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><p>The mayor didn't let me come back to their house for two weeks after what he lovingly referred to as "the accident."<p>

As if it were an accident. Sure, did I plan on kissing Madge when she had that goofy pinata head on? No. That doesn't mean it wasn't on my mind. Almost constantly. It's just... in that moment, she was so completely herself that I couldn't help myself. For years I'd known the quiet Madge, the slight, studious girl in the back of the classroom whose shoes and socks were still white because she didn't trek through the coal dust every day to class. She sat in the back, never answering any questions, never drawing any attention to herself. But even then, I marvelled at how blonde and pale she was, fragile like a doll. The rest of us were calloused and dark, a product of the mines, but there she was, untouched by all of the filth.

Of course, all of the kids at school resented her. And could you blame them? Here we were, doomed to break our backs for the Capitol, and that girl would never lift a finger in her life. I just wish that they all knew her the way I do.

That day, on her birthday, I almost left to break Billey's nose after I heard what he told her. The thought flashed across my mind to break her dad's for the hare-brained idea. But that's not what she needed, I knew that. So, instead, I rocked her in that dimly lit room as she cried. Her hands were balled into fists against my shirt, her tears damp against my collarbone. None of that mattered to me. Not when the girl who had clumsily pieced me back together for my family was falling apart. I put myself out on a limb that day. Never before had I actually spoken aloud what she meant to me, not even in the slightest, but the moment she mentioned volunteering for the Hunger Games I could feel my mouth getting all swollen and wet like when you feel you're going to vomit and my hands started to shake.

She deserved to hear it. I'm not sure I prefered her father as an audience- I could hear him mouth-breathing and sniffling outside her door- but that was the first time it truly hit me, how alone Madge was in this glass castle.

I wish the rest of the kids at school could have seen her face when I told her what a wonderful person she was. Her eyes shone through her tears with a hope you never saw in this district. A watery smile was tugging at the corner of her lips and her face was flushed from crying. In that moment, I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my life as that hope.

But, when we were outside, and I was able to relax in the cool grass without the fear of Peacekeepers running me off it- or worse- I was more than content. She even let me bust the pinata open. And then seeing her, running around, doing nothing more with joking with me and laughing until our sides hurt, that's when I realized.

It wasn't that hope that made her beautiful.

It was her.

I couldn't help myself. When she clumsily galloped into me and knocked the both of us over, the warmth of her body seeping through her soft, cotton dress, I tried so hard for a second to just focus on the triangle of freckles on her collarbone. But I needed to see her face. I lifted that ridiculous horse head off and her blue eyes shone, pale and striking, the sunlight streaming through her hair and I knew then I had to kiss her. I closed my eyes and felt her chest hitch in surprise, the warmth of her cheek against mine and she hummed gently, so lightly, I felt like I could just lay there, the grass and trees grow around us and keep us permanently entangled, I didn't care about the mine or the hopelessness of District 12, just this beautiful girl whose heartbeat I could feel racing against mine. But she pulled back and I quickly became embarrassed. I was still pinned underneath her, and all I could do was blush and look away.

"Katniss," Madge's voice was low, like my name was a secret. "Promise me..." she waited until I met her gaze. "Promise me you will never do that again-" I felt panic rising in my chest. I couldn't believe I was so stupid. "Unless you mean it. Because if you're doing this just to make me feel better, it might break me," before I could even protest, her eyes fluttered shut and Madge was capturing my lips again, sighing into the soft meeting of our lips.

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><p>The mayor is so overbearing it's creepy. The fact that he caught us was understandable, but the fact that he waited until <em>after<em> Madge had rolled to my side, her arm lazily slung around my stomach, proved that he had been _watching._

So, when I started yelling about how creepy he was, he didn't take it too lightly. In fact, he told me that I could never step foot in their house again. I told him that didn't bother me one bit, and, before she could get upset, I stepped toward Madge and told her I would see her at school tomorrow. The mayor couldn't do anything about that. There's only one school in the district. He sputtered a few times and I left, still smiling the whole way home.

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><p>The next day at lunch, Madge still seemed upset. She sat down beside me, not saying anything, picking at the crust on her sandwich. She sat there like that for five minutes. I snatched the sandwich out of her hand.<p>

"Hey!" she cried out, and I handed it back to her.

"Listen, Madge," I took her other hand that was under the table. "You don't need to worry. Your dad will get over it. All you have to do is say please and bat your eyelashes at him and he'll be falling over himself to make sure you have what you want," I wasn't sure what else to do, so I squeezed her hand under the table, my lips quirking up a little.

"I know, Katniss, but you should have heard the things he said yesterday after you were gone!" My eyebrow quirked at this. What could this man have possibly said? He had no spine. "He made it seem like we'd been going around behind his back for ages, and I tried to explain to him that we haven't, but, honestly, can you blame him? So even when you can come over, it's not going to be the same, and we can't just-" she lowered her voice and looked around, making sure no one was listening. "I'm worried I'm never going to be able to kiss you again, Katniss! I mean, I really- it was- I liked it, okay, and I'm not going to be happy if your little stunt means it can't happen again!" her face was flushed with agitation.

"That's what you're worried about? Madge," I took my hand under her chin to direct her gaze toward me. "I'm not sure if you know this, but I play hide-and-seek with around two dozen Peacekeepers on an almost daily basis. If I can manage that, I'm sure we can figure out a way to sneak around your clueless dad. I promise," I wanted to kiss her again right there, just to prove it, but I was suddenly aware of several pairs of eyes on us. Our foreheads were so close, they were almost touching, and I could feel Madge's warm breath on my neck. I quickly snapped back and glared at each and every one of them. They turned around without hesitation. Apparently my threats on Billey's life were not kept secret after all.

* * *

><p>Another week and a half went by, and Madge was still having absolutely no luck with her father. I was in the middle of hemming a dress of mine for Prim when I heard a knock on the door. I cursed to myself after accidentally jabbing my thumb with a needle and hurried over to the door to open it.<p>

Outside was a well-dressed woman who I guess was around 40, her light hair falling above her shoulders. The minute I got a good look at her eyes, I knew who she was.

"Mrs. Mayor, please, come in," I probably sounded just as unsure and uncomfortable as I felt in that moment. She smiled graciously and seated herself in the kitchen, where the only good stool in the house was. "I thought you never left your room!" I blurted. "Why are you here if you're never with Madge?" I bit down on my lip before any other questions could come barrelling out of my mouth.

"Madge is the reason I'm here, dear," she answered casually, as if we spoke on a daily basis. "Her father is livid, still, and God knows I've tried to talk some sense into him," she got up from her chair. "Do you mind if I get myself a glass of water? All of this coal dust makes me thirsty," I nodded, and she proceeded to rummage through the cupboards, emerging with a chipped glass. Filling it and inspecting the water for clarity, she took a sip and continued.

"And I'm about to talk to him again. That's the good thing about saving your words, dear. When you open your mouth, it really means something. I digress. I'm taking you back to the house with me, and I'm going to have a little chat with my husband, and you shouldn't have any problems with him anymore," she pulled a vial out of her pocket, drank some of its contents, and her mouth puckered. "Now let's get going before this migraine becomes too much," I nodded and put the dress away, shouting to Prim that I should be back in an hour and not to go outside or answer the door.

The mayor's wife walked briskly; it took me serious effort to match her stride. "How do you know?" I couldn't help asking. I've seen this woman two times in my whole life. I'd be surprised if Madge saw her any more than I had. "It's not like you're... around."

She sighed. "I'm not, you have that absolutely right. But... it's not as if I'm deaf. It's rather convenient that so much happens in my husband's office when I'm right next to it. It makes it much easier to know what's going on in the house," I wanted so badly to ask her why she lived in there, why she didn't just come out and _talk _to Madge once in a while, but I held it back. I was afraid if I made her speak too much, she may decide to give up on the whole thing.

When we stepped inside the mayor's house, she motioned for me to come up the stairs. We both stood outside the mayor's office as she knocked, and when he opened the door, it seemed like he was going to faint.

"Katniss and I have come to have a chat with you, if you'd be so kind as to sit down," the mayor nodded meekly, returning to his chair. His wife sat opposite him, and, as much as I wanted to just bolt down the hall into Madge's room, I sat down beside her. "Well, now that we're all comfortable, I'm just going to lay it out. Katniss can come here whenever she wants-" she pointed her finger at the mayor when he attempted to interject "Quiet. I am speaking. You and I both know that we have done a terrible job of making our daughter happy. I have never seen Madge shine like she does around Katniss. You are not taking that away from her and that is final," she paused for a moment. "And- if they're together, then good for them! It means they won't wind up raising children in this miserable district to be slave labor to the mines for the Capitol. Think of it as another way of bucking the system," she rose out of her chair and left. Just like that. No goodbye, or anything.

I barely cast the mayor another glance before sprinting down the hall to Madge's room.


End file.
